The Lee County school board plans to spend $57.4 million on safety initiatives if voters approve a half-cent sales tax referendum in November.

The board approved the plan Tuesday night when it passed by a 5-1 vote a modified list of projects that the money will go toward. The money set aside for school safety is an increase of 603 percent, or more than $49 million.

Board member Melisa Giovannelli, who has been opposed to the referendum, voted against the list. Board member Jane Kuckel did not attend Tuesday's meeting.

Superintendent Greg Adkins said the Feb. 13 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland was part of the reason he asked the board to increase the amount of money to be spent on safety.

"We think also hearing from community members and board members and even our own employees ... warranted increasing this significantly," he said.

The school board first approved a project list in January. The modified list and the initial one include more than $754.8 million in projects. The total cost of the projects on the new list is $109 higher.

The school district wants to use the money that the sales tax generates on four things: school safety initiatives, building new schools, paying for school maintenance and purchasing technology for classrooms.

"I just want to say from this list we are clearly prioritizing safety and security for our students in terms of hardening of schools," board member Chris Patricca said.

The district cut initiatives from the list and reallocated the money that would have gone toward those items to other projects on the list, said Lauren Stillwell, a school district spokeswoman.

The first list earmarked more than $45 million for sports-related projects. The projects under that initiative, except for some bleacher replacements, are not included in the modified list, Stillwell said.

In another change, the district reduced the amount of money for technology, such as computers for elementary school students, from more than $74.5 million to more than $46.5 million.

School districts across the state are reviewing their safety measures and making changes as a result of the Parkland shooting and a bill Gov. Rick Scott signed into law.

"School is the safest place for kids," Lee County school board member Mary Fischer said. "More kids are killed in their homes and neighborhoods than any schools. However, I think we have to comply with what the state is asking us to do. We have to make sure our buildings are safe for everyone — students and staff."

The safety items the school district wants to use the tax money for include:

» Locks that will allow classroom doors to be locked from the inside.

» Remote door entry systems and video cameras.

» Colored panels that can be pulled down over doors to block the view into classrooms and indicate if the people inside the room are safe.

» Measures that will reduce the number of entry points at schools to one once classes start.

"We are never going to have a perfect scenario, but we have got to make sure that we do our darn best to make sure that we have covered any possible entryways to get into our schools," board member Pamela LaRiviere said.

School district officials said it's going to be tough to reduce the entry points at some schools, like at Cypress Lake, Fort Myers and Riverdale high schools, because of their size and the number of ways to get into the schools.

"Back like when Riverdale was built, the design didn't even contemplate a shooter coming on campus," Adkins said. "Now when you look at Island Coast, South High, Ida Baker, there we started to incorporate that thought into the design of those buildings."

The modified list also includes more money for new schools and maintenance projects.

The money earmarked for maintenance went from more than $361 million to more than $364.9 million. The projects the district lists under maintenance include playground improvements, new air conditioning systems, roof replacements, fire alarm and sprinkler system improvements and a long list of other things.

One new building was added to the new school construction list, bringing the number of projects on the list to eight. The money dedicated to the list increased by $20 million to $286 million.

Adkins said the addition to the list is a plan to build a new building or renovate a building to meet the needs of Fort Myers Technical College.

"Right now we have got classes over there that are at capacity all the time, and the other thing is in some cases our equipment doesn't meet the needs of the industry," he said.

CLOSE

The SWFL legislative delegation met with students on mental health, school safety and gun control. Elected officials are, State Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, State Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, State Rep. Dane Eagle and State Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen.
Andrew West/The News-Press

Board approves lab school agreement

The school board also voted 6-0 on Tuesday to approve an agreement between the school district and Florida Gulf Coast University to create a laboratory school.

The school will serve as a training ground for students who aspire to be teachers and a lab for veteran educators to try different teaching techniques.

The FGCU board will be asked to vote on the agreement when it meets in September.

The school district and FGCU are in the early stages of planning the school. The school district is planning to put the school in south Lee County, most likely Estero.

"The innovation and the ideas that will benefit our pre-K-12 audience is going to be invaluable," Fischer said.